Plainfield community leaders call for action to stem deepening violence

Scott Lituchy/The Star-LedgerPlainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs has invited city officials, residents and merchants to attend an emergency meeting tonight to brainstorm about ways to deal with the Queen City's recent shootings.

PLAINFIELD — Plainfield was already experiencing one of the most violent periods its residents have ever known when a recent burst of street crime started two weeks ago.

In that time period, authorities said there were three shootings that left one man dead and another in critical condition.

There were also five reports of shots fired — including an incident where two men were chased through backyards by two gunman, one of whom may have had an assault rifle, police said. Twenty-four shell casings were recovered after that incident, and the victims escaped only after running into a residence.

The deepening struggle to stem the near-crisis-level violence, in a city of just 50,000, spurred a call to action among community leaders this week.

They called for programs to occupy the city’s youth, some stretching into the evening hours.

"We need to plan some activities that will go into the evening hours. Because, let’s face it, 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds are not going into the house at 6:30," the mayor said.

They demanded funding from the state.

"Programs to help young men and women, to keep them out of the system, the governor has taken that out of the budget," Green said.

They hope to find jobs, both for teenagers and adults — especially those who have been in prison. They want to provide transportation to keep young people from walking through the shooting galleries that some call home.

Most directly and immediately, the group planned to take to the streets — as they did last summer, when violence began to really take off in Plainfield — and speak to residents. The word of the evening, as the concerned met at city hall, was "re-education." It’s a word used by Anwar L. Counts, an activist from the "Streets" program.

"We’re trying to get those folks out there to re-educate themselves to know that education is cool — robbing grandma is not cool," Counts told the several dozen people gathered for the meeting.

Street violence — especially gun violence — has been an escalating problem in the city since last summer, when homicides and shootings spiked. Plainfield, which recorded just two slayings in 2009, ended last year with eight homicides — most of which occurred in the fall.

This year, there already have been six homicides. That puts the city on pace to pass its 2005 all-time high of 15 slayings.

Police Director Martin Hellwig said his department has been rethinking how it polices. He’s assembled a five-member gang task force from the patrol division. He’s using federal grant money — and hopefully asset seizure funds — to install a surveillance system in the city’s West End, where many of the shootings have occurred.

"You could put a postage stamp over where a lot of these things are happening, if you had a map," he said.

Hellwig is also working up plans to rent a ShotSpotter system, a technology that alerts police to gunfire as soon as a bullet leaves the barrel.

But the issue is a multifaceted one, driven largely by a culture that youth must join gangs. He said it must be dressed in a holistic way – long before it becomes a law enforcement problem. Every arrest is a failure, he offered.

"This is about young men who are growing up in this community," he said, "with fear of walking out the door — fear for their families."